


a pair of fancy boots, fancy boots

by localspacelesbian, penguinwritesbooks



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV 2020)
Genre: Caleb Covington Being a Bastard, Childhood Friends, Copernicus & Cassini get mentioned several times, Demonic Possession, First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, Gay People Taking Naps, M/M, oh my god they were astronomy kids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-12
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-18 20:41:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 17,755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29988552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/localspacelesbian/pseuds/localspacelesbian, https://archiveofourown.org/users/penguinwritesbooks/pseuds/penguinwritesbooks
Summary: Julie’s dress glittered under the stage lights as she took a bow with her bandmates, a grin bright on her face. The Phantoms disappeared as one, and despite having seen it happen before, Nick gasped along with the rest of the crowd as he cheered for his friend. Spencer cheered alongside him, but he couldn’t help the sadness that crept up at the look of pure love that shone from Nick’s face as he looked at Julie.or: In which caleb covington gets repeatedly beaten by gay people and their love for one another.
Relationships: Alex Mercer/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Chad Danforth & Nick (Julie and The Phantoms), Chad Danforth/Ryan Evans, Julie Molina & Nick, Julie Molina/Luke Patterson, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Nick (Julie and The Phantoms)/Original Character(s), Nick Danforth-Evans/Spencer Montgomery-Wright, Ryan Evans & Nick (Julie and The Phantoms)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 29





	1. one

**Author's Note:**

> This fic has been in the making since November 20th, and we've only just now finished it. If that doesn't say something about us, I don't know what will. 
> 
> Anyway, I hope you love it as much as we do!

Julie’s dress glittered under the stage lights as she took a bow with her bandmates, a grin bright on her face. The Phantoms disappeared as one, and despite having seen it happen before, Nick gasped along with the rest of the crowd as he cheered for his friend. Spencer cheered alongside him, but he couldn’t help the sadness that crept up at the look of pure love that shone from Nick’s face as he looked at Julie. He’d been planning this 100%-not-a-date with Nick for weeks now. But seeing the way Nick looked at Julie, any thoughts he had of telling his friend how he felt left his mind. He’d wanted to tell him after the show, but watching him glow with pride for her, he knew it wouldn’t be a good idea.

They were supposed to stay at Nick’s house that night, and the last thing Spencer wanted was to ruin that for them. Admitting how he felt was one thing, but losing his best friend, his teammate, and, um, whatever else they were, in one fell swoop was almost too much to stomach.

Nick turned to him in excitement and squeezed his hand as Brendon Urie took Julie’s place on stage. Spencer just shook his head, watching Nick cheer with a fond grin on his face. There was still a little chocolate on the corner of his mouth from when they’d gotten ice cream before the show at Nick’s insistence, because ‘you can’t go to a concert without getting ice cream first, Spencer.’ Nick had smiled so widely when the worker handed him his ice cream that Spencer almost kissed him right there. But then there was an ice cream cone melting in his hands, and he didn’t want to ruin the moment, and by the time he stopped thinking about it, Nick was pulling him outside.

Now, he had that same smile on his face, and Spencer had that same urge to kiss it away. He let himself watch the lights dance over Nick’s face for just a moment too long before tearing his eyes away. He didn’t even really care about _Panic! at the Disco_ , at least not like Nick did; he just bought the tickets to make him smile. Now, watching him jump around and react to the theatrics of the show, it was clear to him that it was worth it. He spent almost the whole time watching Nick out of the corner of his eye, unable to stop himself from feeling giddy at knowing that he was the reason for his smile.

Later, as they walked back to Spencer’s car, their hands brushed against each other, and Spencer felt his heart in his throat, completely unaware that the other boy was feeling the same thing.

“So you had a good time?” he asked, unlocking the car doors.

“Are you kidding?” Nick asked, eyes twinkling with a smile. “That was amazing! I still can’t believe you got us tickets.”

Spencer just smiled as he settled into the driver’s seat. _Anything for you_.

There was a quiet moment between Spencer turning the key in the ignition and putting his foot on the gas; he glanced over at Nick, whose heart definitely didn’t jump into his throat at the little smile on his face. They spent the rest of the ride to the Danforth-Evans house stealing glances at one another and pretending not to catch each other’s eyes.

“How was the show?” Nick’s dad Ryan asked them when they walked in.

“It was good,” Spencer answered, a soft smile on his face.

“It was _amazing_ ,” Nick corrected. “Julie’s band opened for them, and they were incredible!”

Spencer could watch Nick gush about Brendon Urie for hours, but hearing him talk about Julie like that hurt a little bit, and he was tired after the show, so there was only so much he could deal with at the moment. 

“Hey, where’s Phoebe?” He looked around, trying to pretend he wasn’t desperate to change the subject. Nick’s little sister usually would have tackled him by now, but she was nowhere to be found. 

“Oh, she had a tumbling competition out of town tonight. She and Chad will be home tomorrow morning.”

“Oh yeah! How’d she do?” Nick asked.

“She made it to the final round,” he responded, a proud grin on his face. “Got an 18.9 on the first pass and a 20.3 on the second.”

“So did she win or…?” Spencer didn’t actually know how tumbling scores worked.

“Second place, but your pops,” he directed at Nick, like Chad was _his_ problem, “thinks the girl who got first should have gotten lower difficulty scores.”

“Aren’t difficulty scores, like, already set?” Nick asked.

“Yes, they are.”

“Well, did you explain that to him?”

“I tried! I gave up after ten minutes when he started talking about a peaceful protest.” Nick laughed, and Ryan tilted his head to the side as he looked at his son, like he’d just noticed something. He pointed at the top of Nick’s head. “Is that my hat?”

“It’s not… _not_ your hat?”

“Thief,” Ryan grumbled, plucking it off his head.

“Right. Well, we’re gonna go to bed,” he said, pulling Spencer upstairs by the elbow.

“Oh- Goodnight, Mr. Evans!” Spencer shouted.

“I told you to call me Ryan!”

“I said no!”

Nick just laughed and rolled his eyes at his friend as he pulled him into his bedroom. Spencer dropped his stuff on the floor and sat on the bed, pulling Oklahoma the Elephant towards him. He smiled down at her and straightened her little cowboy hat. “I still can’t believe you still have her.”

Nick sat down next to him, closer than Spencer was expecting. Their knees knocked together as he leaned over to pet Oklahoma’s ears. “Of course. You still have Texas, right?”

Spencer just nodded. As if he’d ever be able to get rid of her. Texas was a stuffed penguin Nick had gotten him at the school field trip to the zoo in fifth grade when Spencer wasn’t able to go because he got sick. He’d been so excited because he’d never seen a real penguin before and had always wanted one for a pet. When Nick knocked on his door after school with a toothy grin on his face and the stuffed penguin in his hands, Spencer almost cried. She was outfitted with little cowboy boots from an old Build-A-Bear, and Spencer immediately knew he had to name her Texas. He got Oklahoma for Nick a week later when his moms took him to the zoo by himself to make up for not being able to go with his class. Of course, Spencer wanted her to match Texas, so he’d found her a little cowboy hat and bandana before giving her to Nick.

Texas had admittedly been through a lot. She’d been attacked by Spencer’s dog, cats, parakeet, and even his Roomba too many times to count. When his mom had the idea of giving her a bandana to cover up a particularly nasty scar, Nick had immediately gone out to find one that matched Oklahoma’s. No matter how many times he or one of his moms had to perform surgery on the penguin, she remained on Spencer’s bed every night… Not that anyone needed to know that. 

“So… you like Julie?” Spencer asked, pulling himself out of his head.

“Yeah, she’s cool.” Nick shrugged. It wasn’t a lie, or anything. She _was_ cool, and a great friend. Nick just… sort of preferred Spencer. They had more in common, and he couldn’t deny the little flip his stomach did every time Spencer complimented him, as much as he might try.

Spencer nodded. “You should get her flowers or something.”

Nick looked at him in confusion, one eyebrow raised. “...What?”

“Don’t girls like flowers?” Spencer liked flowers, and girls in all the movies he watched seemed to like them. But, being gay and all, he’d never actually had a girlfriend, so who was he to say?

“I don’t know. I’ve never asked.”

“You never got Carrie flowers?” Spencer asked. “If I were her, I’d be very disappointed in you.” It was supposed to be a joke, but as Spencer thought about Nick and Carrie’s relationship, he felt a little bad about the comment and opened his mouth to apologize.

Nick shook his head. “Carrie was never actually disappointed in me. We just didn’t really like each other the way we should have.” Nick said. “Besides, she has a whole garden full of flowers. I don’t think she needs any more. Especially from someone who doesn’t know the first thing about them.”

“Maybe I could help?”

“Do you know anything about flowers?” he asked incredulously.

Spencer shrugged. “I know what I like. Besides, I don’t think Julie is as picky as Carrie. She’d probably appreciate dandelions you picked from the sidewalk.”

“Really?” Nick asked, tilting his head like he was _actually_ contemplating getting her dandelions from the sidewalk.

Spencer shook his head in amusement, laughing lightly. “Let’s maybe not test that.”

“Right.”

“We can stop by the flower shop down the street tomorrow morning, and I’ll help you pick something out, and then you can go to her house and bring them to her.” 

Nick shrugged and said, “Okay, then,” cutting himself off with a yawn.

“Come on, man. We should get to bed.” Spencer got up, carefully setting Oklahoma down, and reached into his bag for his pajamas. Nick followed suit, getting up and walking to his dresser to grab his own clothes and setting his (dad’s) hat on top of it.

After they changed and brushed their teeth, they both got into Nick’s bed to go to sleep. They lay on their sides facing each other, Oklahoma settled comfortably between them.

“Hey, thanks for tonight.”

Spencer smiled. “Of course. I had fun.”

“Me too. I love you.”

It wasn’t the first time they’d said those words to each other, but it still sent Spencer’s mind into panic mode. He covered it by rolling his eyes and joking, “That’s pretty gay, man.”

Nick rolled his eyes, but even in the dark, Spencer could have sworn he saw him blush. “Shut up.”

“Yeah, yeah. I love you too, dork.”

“Good night.”

“Night.” Spencer turned over to his other side and tried to fall asleep. Eventually, he heard Nick’s soft snoring behind him, and a few minutes later, he drifted off too.

\---

Spencer woke slowly, finding himself wrapped around his best friend. He had a mouthful of Nick’s hair, their legs were tangled together, and his arms were wrapped around his waist. Panicking, he untangled their limbs in a frenzy, falling backward off Nick’s bed with a clatter in the process.

“Wha-” Nick sat up groggily, rubbing his eyes, and looked down at Spencer laying on the ground. “Why are you down there?”

Spencer paused for a second as he looked up at his friend and deadpanned, “It was comfortable.” Nick looked at him for a long moment, before shrugging and turning back over.

“You should probably get back in bed,” he muttered, voice muffled in his pillows. “You’ll regret it in the morning if you sleep on the floor.”

“Bro, it is morning.” The clock on Nick’s dresser blinked 9:43 am.

“The sun’s not awake yet,” Nick insisted. Spencer shook his head. He clambered onto his feet and pulled the curtains open, letting the sun in. “Oh. Right. I forgot those were there.”

“Your… Your curtains?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Okay, man.”

“Do we have to get up yet?”

The idea of crawling back under the covers and going back to sleep was certainly tempting, but Spencer knew they’d probably end up intertwined again, and he really didn’t want Nick to be the first to wake up this time. “Aren’t you hungry?” Nick turned to face him, considering it. “I’ll make you pancakes?” Spencer offered.

“I’ve slept long enough,” he decided, immediately getting out of bed and sliding past Spencer to the hallway. “Come on! I want pancakes!”

Spencer rolled his eyes, padding out of the bedroom and downstairs, where Nick had already started pulling what he thought might go into pancakes out of the cabinets. “You don’t put- is that cardamom?”

Nick nodded. “I didn’t know what you’d need, so I got everything.”

“Including cayenne pepper and… peppermint extract?”

“Who am I to decide what goes into pancakes?” Nick asked, continuing to root through cabinets and place items he deemed pancake-worthy on the kitchen island.

“Dude, is that candied ginger?”

\---

After they ate (and cleaned up the mess they’d made during their inevitable flour fight) Spencer drove them to the nearest flower shop. They walked in and were immediately overwhelmed by the bright colors and potent scents surrounding them. 

"Is there something I can help you boys with?" The lady behind the counter asked quickly, perhaps sensing how lost they both were.

They shared a look and then Spencer answered, "We're getting flowers for a girl."

Her eyes lit up. "A girlfriend?"

"A friend," Nick corrected adamantly. "She and her band had a really big gig last night, and I wanted to congratulate her."

"Oh, that's nice. Do you have any idea what you're looking for?"

They looked around, and Spencer pointed at some colorful flowers next to him. "I like those." 

"The gerberas?" she asked. He nodded, letting himself lightly stroke one of the flowers with a small smile.

"Do you think Julie would like them?" Nick asked. Spencer just shrugged.

Nick looked around. He took a step toward some pink flowers and pointed at them. "What are these? They're pretty."

"Those are carnations, one of our more popular flowers.” Nick nodded. “What kind of budget are we working with here?" she asked.

Spencer looked to Nick, who shrugged. "I’ve got like 25 bucks."

The lady nodded, a small smile on her face. "I can work with that." She let Nick pick out a few flowers and then gathered them with some smaller white flowers into a bouquet.

Spencer drove Nick to Julie's house, the knot in his stomach growing larger with every breath. It wasn’t as if he didn’t know Nick liked her, but actually _helping_ him ask her out was approaching ‘too much’ territory.

"Are you sure she's gonna like them?" Nick asked once they were parked in front of the house.

Spencer rolled his eyes. "Who turns down flowers? She's going to love it. Now, go get your girl." He nearly pushed a slightly confused Nick (who he could have sworn he saw mouth ‘your girl?’ to himself) out of the car. "Text me if you need a ride back afterward." Nick nodded and gave him a slightly confused thumbs up. 

Spencer tried to give him a reassuring smile, which fell as soon as Nick had his back turned. He watched him walk up to the door but decided he wasn't going to torture himself by watching anymore. With one last look at his best friend, he sighed and drove away.

Nick never texted him for a ride home.

\---

Caleb rolled his shoulders. He was still getting used to his new height when the door opened behind him, and he turned to see Julie standing there with a smile on her face. “Nick, hi!” She gratefully accepted the flowers and his praise for her performance the night before. Luke and Reggie stood behind her, watching the exchange, but he steadfastly ignored their presence.

“You were really good last night,” he said. “Better than Brendon Urie, no question.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t say that,” she laughed, gesturing for him to come inside. “But thank you!”

She led him into the kitchen, where she rummaged around to find a vase in the cabinets. The guys followed them, each taking his place at the counter. Julie spent a few minutes rambling about something or other, but Caleb wasn’t paying attention. He was focused on the ghosts to his left, watching out of the corner of his eye as Alex poofed into the living room. He called Luke and Reggie over, oblivious to Caleb’s gaze, and led them out of the house.

“I can’t find him _anywhere_ ,” he said, stepping through Julie’s front door. He was probably talking about Willie, whom he wouldn’t be seeing any time soon.

Caleb wasn’t stupid; Willie had disappeared hours before _Julie and the Phantoms_ performed at the Orpheum, with no explanation of his whereabouts when he got back. Caleb had taken one look at the blush on his cheeks when he mentioned Alex and put the pieces together. With the wave of a hand, Willie was bound to the club with no way out for the foreseeable future. He’d let him leave again soon enough, he just had to get the phantoms under control first.

“Nick?” Caleb snapped his attention back to Julie at the sound of her voice. “You okay?”

“Yeah! Yeah, sorry. I was just… I thought I saw something move, but it was probably just the light.” Julie seemed satisfied with his answer, putting the flowers in a vase full of water. She paused, unsure of what to do with them now. She eventually settled for just setting them on the kitchen table and awkwardly patting the side of the vase.

“You were with Spencer last night, right? I think I saw you in the audience during the show.” Caleb just nodded slowly, unsure of how to answer. “How are things with you two?”

“...Sorry?” Caleb had no idea what she was insinuating. He glanced at the flowers on the table. Had he somehow interpreted those wrong? _Who the hell is Spencer?_

Julie raised her eyebrows and then opened her mouth to say something before apparently changing her mind and closing. She shrugged. “Sorry, I guess it just kind of looked like the two of you were on a date or something. Honestly, that’s part of why I, uh, rejected you the other day. I just assumed you two were… something, I guess. I don’t know.”

He tried to hide his confusion and panic, shaking his head. “Uh, no. No, I was there to see you. He just came along because he loves _Panic! at the Disco_.”

A look of skepticism crossed Julie’s face for a second, and then she nodded slowly. “Right.” She smiled awkwardly. “Well, I have band rehearsal, and I’m sure you have plans for your dad’s birthday today, so I don’t want to keep you.”

Caleb could tell he was being kicked out. He nodded and let her lead him back out the front door. He saw the boys out front stop talking and look over when the door opened. Julie glanced at them before turning to Nick.

“I’ll see you at school tomorrow?”

Julie nodded and leaned forward for a hug. “Yeah, and thanks so much for the flowers, Nick, really.” As they hugged, he saw the boys watching them. Luke looked pissed. Caleb smirked and winked at the other ghost. He savored the looks of shock on the boys’ faces for just a second before pulling away from Julie. He waved at her before turning and walking down the sidewalk away from her house.

He looked back at her with a smile and saw Luke gesturing wildly, saying something along the lines of, “He looked right at us!” Julie nodded, but her gaze didn’t leave Nick.

As soon as he was out of sight, with a final glance over his shoulder, Caleb poofed away.

\---

Julie watched through a window as Nick left. As soon as he disappeared around a corner, she whirled around to face the guys. “Don’t call me crazy.”

“Why would we do that?” Luke asked.

“Because _that_ ,” she said, pointing toward the front door. “Was not Nick.”

“You’re right, that does sound crazy,” Alex deadpanned, earning a smack on the arm from Luke. “What? It’s true!”

“I know, but you have to believe me,” Julie said. “Ryan’s birthday isn’t until December, and he didn’t correct me when I said it was today. Plus, he said Spencer just tagged along to the Orpheum because he likes _Panic! at the Disco_ , but that’s not true. Spencer bought those tickets months ago because _Nick_ likes them, not him. When he got the tickets, Nick would not stop talking about it. It was honestly kind of annoying. But mostly it was cute because those two have been dancing around each other since the sixth grade. And when I mentioned it, he looked like he didn’t even know who Spencer was.” 

“ _And_ ,” Reggie started. “He looked, like, right at us.” Luke nodded in agreement.

“Okay, but if that wasn’t Nick, who the hell was it?” Alex asked.

“Don’t kill me for going here, but is it _possible_ that it could have been Caleb?” Julie asked. “Like, can he… Do that?”

The boys all looked at each other. Honestly, they had no idea. But they wouldn’t put it past him.

\---

Nick was in his room, and he couldn’t quite remember how he got here. He picked up Oklahoma as he sat on his bed, leaning back against the wall and pulling his knees to his chest. He stared down at the little stuffed elephant, trying to remember anything from the past… few hours? The last thing he remembered was being at the Molinas’ house. He rang the doorbell, and then… there was a man. He was dressed super fancy, like a plague doctor crossed with a bad supervillain, with weird sunglasses. He said something, but all Nick remembered was the chills it sent down his spine. Everything after that was blurry. As he tried to think about it, he felt like his skull was splitting open. His hands flew up to his head, as if he could physically hold it together. He heard a knock on the door and flinched, hitting his head on the wall behind him, which did not help his headache at all.

He was staring down at Oklahoma, who’d fallen onto the ground, when his pops opened the door. Chad looked down at his son, his brow wrinkled in concern. “Dinner's ready.”

Nick looked up at him, startled slightly by his voice. "Huh?"

"Are you okay, kiddo? You didn't say anything when you came in."

"Oh." Nick didn't even realize he'd seen his dads when he'd walked in. He shook his head. "Yeah, sorry. I just have a headache."

Chad walked in, stopping to pick up Oklahoma before sitting next to his son on the bed, fiddling with the hat and bandana on the stuffed toy in his hands. "Have you taken anything for it yet?" Nick shook his head. "Are you gonna be okay for dinner?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'll be fine."

Chad nodded and set Oklahoma back in her spot on Nick's bedside table. He held out his arm, and Nick scooted forward on the bed to lean against him, letting his pops put his arm around his shoulders.

After a few seconds, Nick asked, "What'd you make?"

Chad smiled. "Your dad and sister made chicken." Nick gave him a look, thinking back to the Great Chicken Fiasco of 2017. Chad put his free hand in front of his mouth and leaned toward Nick conspiratorially even though they were the only two people in the room. “Don’t worry, I ordered a pizza just in case.” Nick laughed. “Come on.” He gently tugged Nick up from his bed, and they braved the kitchen together.

\---

“So did Julie like the flowers?” Spencer asked, sliding into a chair across from Nick.

“Huh?” The migraine had faded, but he still hadn’t pieced together the events that had taken place at Julie’s. He’d been trying to find her all morning. He overslept, so he missed her at her locker, and he’d just been scanning the cafeteria for her when Spencer sat down.

“The… The flowers? The carnations?”

Nick remembered buying flowers with Spencer, but he didn’t recall giving them to Julie. “I don’t-”

“Nick!” Julie’s voice rang out behind him.

He turned as she approached, giving her a small smile. "Hey, Jules. You were great this weekend."

"Yeah, you killed it. Way better than _Panic_!" Spencer added with a teasing smile directed at Nick.

Julie laughed, sending a look somewhere next to her, where just for a second Nick could have sworn he saw someone else standing, but he blinked and they were gone. "Thanks, guys. I'm glad you liked the show."

"Of course," Nick said. "You know I'm a Julie Molina superfan for life."

Julie laughed again, sticking out her elbow awkwardly for a second like she was hitting someone who wasn't there. "Well, I appreciate that, Nick. Anyway, I just wanted to thank you again for the flowers. That was really thoughtful of you."

He shrugged. "Hey, what are friends for?"

She seemed to search his face for a second before nodding. "Yeah, of course." She glanced down for a second before looking back at him. "Hey, Nick. I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page. Those flowers didn't mean anything… romantic, did they? Cause, you know, I told you-"

"That you like someone else." Nick nodded. "Yeah, I remember." He glanced down, clearing his throat. "It’s, uh, the guitarist, right? In your band?" He wasn't stupid. (Okay, maybe he was, like, a _little_ stupid. But he'd seen the way the two of them looked at each other during every performance. Even if he wasn't quite sure how that worked with him being a hologram.) She blushed and looked to the side again. "Luke, right?"

She nodded, then froze, looking back up at Nick. "Yeah…" She tilted her head to the side. "How did you know that? I don't think I've mentioned any of the guys' names anywhere."

Nick froze. How _did_ he know that? Had Julie ever mentioned her bandmates' names to him before? "Oh. Um… Well, I don’t know. I guess that day when you called me Luke, I just assumed."

Julie blushed even more, suddenly very pointedly looking forward. Again, just for a second, Nick could have sworn he saw a flash of neon orange fabric and a shit-eating grin, but then it was gone. Julie cleared her throat. "Right. Well, I should probably get going. Flynn’s waiting for me." She left quickly then, and Nick stared after her, no closer to figuring out what had happened the day before.

Spencer hit him on the arm to get his attention. "Dude."

"What?"

"When did Julie tell you she likes someone else?"

"Oh. When I asked her out and she said no."

"What? When was that?"

"Um… Somewhere around the time we were dance partners? I thought I told you about that?"

"Um no, you did not. Why would I have told you to get her flowers if I knew you didn't have a chance with her?"

"Because friends get each other flowers sometimes?"

Spencer gave Nick a deadpan look. "Bro, you've never gotten me flowers."

"Well, _you've_ never opened for _Panic! at the Disco_. Once that changes, you can have all the gerberas you want."

Spencer rolled his eyes to cover up his blush at the fact that Nick had remembered his favorite flower. "You know, for someone who got rejected by his crush, you don't seem that upset."

Nick shrugged. "I don't know. It wasn't that big of a crush. Besides, maybe it was for the best. After everything that happened with Carrie, maybe I should take a break from girls."

"Yeah, maybe you should try dating boys instead," Spencer joked.

Nick rolled his eyes. "Yeah, in your dreams."

Spencer snorted, but inside he was quietly hyperventilating because _yeah, how’d you know?_ Nick had previously been preoccupied with trying to piece together what had happened the day before, but now he was more than a little distracted by Spencer’s comment.

_Maybe you should try dating boys instead. Maybe you should try dating boys instead. Maybe you should-_

“Tor?” 

Nick looked up at the old nickname. “Huh?”

“You doing okay? You look a little distracted there.”

Nick gave him a small smile that Spencer immediately saw through. “Yeah, just thinking about the game this Friday,” he lied. “I just don’t think Rasheed should be playing on that ankle yet, you know?”

“...Definitely,” Spencer said. “I mean, his foot looks worse than yours did that time Phoebe convinced you to try tumbling.” He elbowed Nick with a toothy grin and a short laugh that Nick couldn’t help but love.

“Caleb!” Nick exclaimed, playfully shoving Spencer back by the shoulder. 

Spencer stopped, giving him a confused look. “Uh, is that- is that a new nickname?” he asked. “If so, where the hell did it come from? Is that supposed to be a Caleb Scharf reference?”

“No, I… I don’t know where that came from. Do we know a Caleb?” Nick asked, trying to catalog everyone he’d ever met. There was Spencer, Texas and Oklahoma, Carrie and Kayla, Flynn and Julie, Rasheed and the other guys from lacrosse, his family, and… probably some other people. But no Caleb, as far as he knew.

Spencer slowly shook his head. “Maybe one of the guys from Julie’s band?” he said. “I know you said the guitarist is Luke, but do you know the other guys’ names?” Somehow, the connection to Julie’s band made sense.

He nodded. “Yeah, I’ll go ask her.”

“You could also just wait until after lunch,” Spencer offered.

Nick shook his head adamantly. “No, I think I should go ask now.” He paused, scrambling to produce an explanation. “I, um, wouldn’t want to make her late for her next class or anything.”

Spencer nodded, only half believing him. “Okay, then. I’ll come with.”

“No! No, no, you should eat. Really, I’ll be right back,” Nick insisted, scooping up his things and skidding halfway across the cafeteria toward Flynn and Julie’s table before Spencer could object.

“Are you okay?” Flynn asked, looking him up and down as he nearly fell into the table.

“What? Yeah, I’m just… just vibing?” He awkwardly placed a hand on his hip and flashed a lopsided smile.

“No.” She shook her head. “No, you are not.”

“Right. Okay. Uh, Julie.” As he turned to face her, the flash of orange returned, this time persisting until he blinked it away and made a point of looking directly at Julie. “This is super weird, but Spencer was wondering what your band members’ names were. He just wanted to know what to call them, instead of ‘Luke, the drummer, and the bassist’. And he thought it’d be weird to ask you himself, because you’re not super close.”

“So he sent you,” Julie said incredulously.

“Yes, exactly.”

“Well, the drummer’s name is Alex, Reggie’s the bassist, and you already know Luke,” she explained.

“So… Just to clarify. No Caleb, then?” he asked. Julie’s jaw went slack, and she slowly shook her head. The empty seat next to her became occupied by a teenage boy. Suddenly, the orange flashes and grin he’d been seeing were embodied by Luke the guitarist, except he wasn’t grinning anymore. His arm was wrapped casually around Julie’s shoulders, but he was tense and had a panicked expression on his face.

“No, no Caleb,” she said, forcing herself to keep her tone even. Nick refused to break eye contact with Luke, whose shocked expression was slowly turning into confusion as they stared at one another. Julie glanced between the two of them like she was trying to figure something out.

Luke slowly turned to Julie and said, “What the fuck?” But only the last word was loud enough for Nick to hear, startling him enough that he jumped. 

“That was rude,” he said.

“What was?” Flynn asked. 

“Uh… the, uh. Nothing, I was just… Anyway,” he exclaimed, gesturing vaguely. Julie smiled gently at him, nodding just enough for him to see.

“Hey, did you want to come over tomorrow after school?” Julie asked. “I still need help with the fashion construction homework.”

Nick nodded. “Yeah, of course. Fair warning, though: Spencer’s the design genius out of the two of us, and he’s busy tomorrow, something with his moms.”

“Haven’t you, like, learned anything through osmosis?” 

Nick shook his head. “I wish. He tried to teach me one time, when he was doing the costumes for _La Sylphide_ , but I kept poking myself with the needles and getting blood on the tulle.”

“Ouch,” Flynn remarked, looking down at her hands as if she was lucky she still had them.

“It was fine,” he said. “Spence brought Band-Aids.”

“He knows you so well,” Julie said, eyes sparkling as she laid her chin in her palm.

Nick blinked. “He’s my best friend,” he responded, more of a statement than an explanation.

“You two are good together,” she said with a saccharine grin and a glance over her shoulder to where Spencer was watching Nick rather conspicuously. “I’ll see you after school, but you should probably go tell him about Alex and Reggie.”

“What? Oh! Right, yeah, I’ll meet you at your locker.” Nick nodded, more to himself than to Julie, and turned to make his way back to Spencer.

The bell rang, and Spencer got up to meet him halfway, so they could walk out together. “So?”

“So what?”

“Julie’s band? Their names? Caleb?”

“Oh right. Yeah, um, the drummer is Alex and the bassist is Reggie.”

“So no Caleb?”

Nick shook his head. “No Caleb.”

Spencer frowned. “Are you good, man? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” Nick stopped, almost causing another student to run into him. Spencer pulled him out of the way. “Dude, I meant that figuratively, but you really don’t look so good. _Are_ you okay?” He repeated.

Nick nodded. “Yeah, I guess I’m just a little out of it today. I probably didn’t sleep enough last night. Had a wicked headache all day.”

Spencer nodded slowly. “Okay. You’d tell me if it was something more than that, right?”

“Yeah, of course. You’re my best friend. You know that.”

“Yeah.” Spencer shook his head, as if shaking the notion off. “Yeah, I know.”

“I should probably get to class. I’ll see you later, Cass.”

Spencer nodded again and watched his best friend walk away, an uneasy feeling in his stomach. They’d never kept things from each other before. He didn’t like it.

\---

On Tuesday afternoon, Nick and Julie sat on the floor of her garage trying to make their way through their Fashion Construction homework and making very little progress. Various swatches were laid out around them, each with several pins stabbed through it in a fit of frustration.

“I probably should have brought Spence,” Nick said, flinging an industrial zip-tie across the room. 

“...Probably,” Julie replied, wrapping a yard of silk around her waist in a vain attempt at measuring it. “But I actually did want to talk to you about something.”

“They’re ghosts, right? Your band?”

“Wh- yeah, they are. How’d you know?”

“Spencer said I ‘looked like I’d seen a ghost’ yesterday, and it just kinda made sense,” he explained with a shrug. “Plus, how many explanations could there really be? He wasn’t there, and then he was, and then he was cursing really loudly. That just _screamed_ ‘ghost’ to me, you know?”

“You’re taking this surprisingly well.”

Nick shrugged. “Well, it’s better than the alternate explanation.”

“Which is what?”

“That I was losing my mind.”

“I thought I was too, at first,” Julie said. “I’m surprised you didn’t scream.”

“Yeah, well. I’ve been having a weird time lately, you know? Seeing a ghost is the least of my worries right now.”

“That’s… kinda concerning,” she said, putting a hand on his knee. “When you came to my house the other day, how much do you remember, exactly?”

“When I came to your…” he started, brows furrowing as he tried to remember.

But, apparently, Caleb had been paying close attention and decided that this conversation had gone on long enough. Nick shivered, and then he patted the hand on his knee. “You know what, I think I should probably get going. I just remembered I was supposed to help my sister with something.” He stood up.

“What- no! Wait, Nick-” she cut herself off, noticing the way he walked with newfound confidence. “God, Caleb!” she shouted, scrambling to her feet.

He stopped walking and slowly turned to face her. “Well, you flatter me. Unfortunately, I’m no god.” Naturally, because nothing could go right, Alex chose this moment to poof into the studio. “Alexander! It’s good to see you. I’ll be sure to tell Willie you said hello. That is, of course, if you’ll tell Luke the same.”

“Shut _up_ , Houdini!” Julie snapped. Caleb narrowed his eyes at her, clearly not a fan of the comparison. “Outside of your _literal glitter cape_ , you are not even _remotely_ interesting, and the only reason anyone has ever cared about you is that you’re sparkly and, oh yeah, _own their fucking souls_ . You’re dead, okay? YOU DIED. In fact, I might wager a bet that your flamboyant, incredibly punchable ass died of the plague, if your terrible fashion sense is anything to go off of. Or, actually, maybe not. You know what, I am sorry for making assumptions. Maybe you didn’t die of the plague. Maybe you tripped over your own ego, or drowned in your own narcissism. _Maybe_ , someone got so tired of your glittery goading that they just had to kill you.

“Why don’t you just do us _all_ a favor and cross over now? I’m sure you know what your unfinished business is, right? You know, I have been wondering what Caleb Covington’s dying wish was. I have a hard time believing it’s ‘annoy a random teenage girl until she finds a way to re-kill you’ or ‘force some dead teenage boys to join your little band’. If you’re so worried that they’re too powerful to have around, why not just leave? Pack up the club and the sequins and the hats with rabbits in them, and _go somewhere else_. And if you absolutely have to stay, then just keep your mouth shut and leave my friends alone.”

Alex had poofed out, presumably to find Luke, before he could hear her entire speech. A little out of breath, Julie almost wished someone else were there to witness this; Caleb, still embodying the 16-year-old lacrosse player, was scowling. No one had ever talked to him like that before. But he managed to keep his cool, taking a step closer to Julie. "I think you’ll regret that.”

He poofed away, and suddenly Julie felt like she could breathe again, though now there was a pit of dread in her stomach as his words hit her. Would she regret it?

Reggie poofed in then, fidgeting with the sleeves of the flannel tied around his waist. "Hey, do you know why Luke and Alex are fighting?"

Julie’s head snapped up. "Where are they?"

"Living room."

"Come on." She stormed out of the studio, Reggie trailing behind her. She could hear them yelling as soon as she got into the house.

She made it to the living room just in time to see Alex push Luke back into the coffee table, pushing it back into the couch. But the "Ow!" she heard wasn't from Luke. Everyone froze. Carlos was sitting on the couch looking down, eyes shifting between his hand and the coffee table that had just pinched it against the couch, seemingly moving on its own.

Julie rushed up to him. "Are you okay?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Was that the guys? What's going on?"

"They're being even bigger idiots than usual. I'm sorry."

"It’s fine. Doesn't even hurt anymore. It just startled me." He showed her his hand, and there was nothing there.

She sighed in relief. "Good. Is Dad home?"

"He's upstairs."

"Think you could keep him up there for a bit while I deal with this? I promise I'll explain later." He nodded and stood up from the couch, taking his tablet with him. "You’re the best!" she called after him as he left. He turned to give her a mock salute before running up the stairs. Once she was sure he was gone, she turned to the boys, her hands on her hips and an angry look on her face. "What the hell, guys?"

Alex and Luke started talking over each other. "I'm sorry. I didn't know he was there."

"He pushed me!"

"Well, you-"

"You appeared out of nowhere and started-"

"Why did Caleb-"

"I don't know!"

"Will you let me-"

"You left Julie all alone with-"

"Guys!" They finally stopped and looked at her. "Where’s Reggie?"

They looked around, just now realizing their friend had disappeared. "I'll check the beach," Luke offered.

"I'll check the studio."

The two disappeared, and Julie couldn’t even enjoy the silence because now she was worried about Reggie. She sighed and made her way up to her room.

She opened the door and heard heavy breathing coming from the far side of her bed. Confused, she followed the noise and saw Reggie on the floor, hugging one of her pillows to his chest. His face was red, and there were tear tracks running down his cheeks. And he was having trouble breathing. Julie pushed aside her questions about how that was even possible, being that he was _dead_ , and knelt down in front of him. “Reggie?”

He started to stand up, stumbling out an apology, but she took his hand and pulled him back down. “Woah, it’s okay, Reggie. I got you. You don’t have to apologize. You don’t have to say anything. Just breathe with me, yeah?”

He nodded, and she nodded back, leading him through a breathing exercise Dr. Turner had taught her. After an agonizing few minutes, he calmed down and tried apologizing again.

She shook her head. “Hey, you don’t have anything to apologize for.”

“I know you don’t want us in your room without asking you first. I just didn’t know where else to go.”

“I’m always willing to make an exception when you’re upset.” He nodded. “Can I hug you?” He nodded again, and she moved to sit next to him and put her arm around him. “Do you want to talk about it?”

He didn’t respond right away. She gave him all the time he needed. After a couple of minutes, he told her, “My parents used to fight a lot.” She nodded, not surprised in the least. “And the guys are usually pretty good about not fighting around me because they know how much it bothers me, and I know that it’s different, but sometimes…” he trailed off, looking down at the pillow in his lap.

“Sometimes it’s just too much,” she filled in.

He nodded. “Yeah.”

She pulled him closer to herself and let him lean his head on her shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“I know.” She knew whose fault it was, and while she couldn’t fight his parents, who were probably old and lived who-knew-where, she _could_ fight Caleb. Probably. She leaned down and kissed the top of his head. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

Alex and Luke chose that moment to poof into her bedroom right in front of them. Okay, maybe there were two other people Julie could fight for Reggie. She glared up at them, and they both took a step back.

“Found Reggie,” Luke tried, pointing at the boy still leaning against Julie.

“Hi, guys. Sorry I scared you,” Reggie apologized.

“Reggie, you are so not the one who needs to apologize right now,” Julie assured him, her narrowed eyes never leaving Luke and Alex.

“Sorry, Reggie,” they both said together.

“It’s okay, guys,” he said.

“Reggie-” Julie started.

He shook his head and sat up, looking at her. “Jules. It’s fine. Really.”

Julie nodded. Then she stood up and looked at the other two, pointing her finger at them. “Fine, but you two are on thin fucking ice.” They both nodded. “Now,” she stepped back so she could look at all three of them, “What are we going to do about Caleb?”

\---

Once again Nick found himself in his room with no memory of the past few hours and no idea how he got there. He’d been studying with Julie, and they started talking about… ghosts? And then… _Oh God_ , maybe he _was_ losing his mind.

He ran a hand through his hair and looked around his room. That’s when he noticed something small sitting on his bed. He walked over and felt his heart leap to his throat when he realized what it was. A tiny cowboy boot. And not just any cowboy boot. He’d recognize it anywhere. He remembered being ten years old and shoving that little Build-A-Bear boot onto Texas’s little penguin foot. He’d basically had to force it onto her foot, and once it was on, it was a struggle to get off again. It didn’t just _fall_ off. And it hadn’t been in this house in years. How was it suddenly on his bed? 

He took a few steadying breaths, cradled the little boot to his chest, and picked up his phone to call Julie.

“...Nick?” she asked when she picked up the phone, sounding almost as if she wasn’t sure it was him.

“Yeah? Listen, I’m really confused right now, and I feel like you know something that I don’t, and Texas’s boot was on my bed, and my head hurts, and apparently ghosts are real, and apparently I can see them, and I can’t tell Spencer or he’ll think I’m crazy and never talk to me again, and I just… I really need a hug right now, man.”

“Okay, slow down. Who’s Texas?”

“She’s the penguin I gave Spencer in fifth grade, and I put Build-A-Bear cowboy boots on her, and now one of them is on my bed,” he said, setting the boot down on his desk.

“Is it possible Spencer just accidentally left it behind last time he was at your house?”

“No, because he hasn’t brought Texas over with him in years, and Texas definitely had both boots last time I was at his house, and it was not here this morning, and I’m kind of freaking out, Jules.”

“Okay, breathe.” Nick did as she asked and took a deep breath. “Alright, what’s the last thing you remember?”

“I was at your house working on our homework. And we were talking about your band and them being…”

“Ghosts?”

“Yeah.” He was still kind of wrapping his head around that.

“And then what?”

“And then everything is kind of fuzzy, and then I was in my room, and I saw the boot on my bed, and I called you.”

“Okay… um… Nick?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m not sure how to break this to you, but you were kind of possessed? By a ghost?”

Nick sat down on his bed. “What? One of your bandmates?”

“No! No, he’s this evil dramatic dead bastard who has it out for my band. His name is Caleb. I’m so sorry, Nick.”

At least the Caleb mystery was solved, but… “Why me?” he asked, falling backward onto his pillows.

“I think Caleb thinks that you and I are together or something.”

“Can you tell him we’re not?”

“I… don’t think he’ll be speaking to me for a while. I called him uninteresting and accused him of being so annoying that he got himself murdered.”

“Oh. Okay, but why did he possess me? Like, what’s he trying to do here?”

“I’m pretty sure he’s trying to get the guys to turn on each other. He thinks they’re too powerful, so he wants to own their souls so that he’s still the most powerful ghost in Hollywood. And last time he tried to force them to give him their souls, they got out of it because they had each other. They were fighting about him for a little bit, but they’ve already made up and now I think they’re taking a nap together. I don’t think he realizes how much those guys love each other.”

“He sounds mean.” 

“He is,” Julie affirmed. “He’s got Alex’s boyfriend trapped in his club.”

Nick frowned. “That’s…” A voice in his head that sounded a little too much like Spencer’s finished that sentence with ‘homophobic,’ but Nick didn’t want to say that out loud. “Mean.”

“Very. I think Alex is trying to figure out a plan to get him back, but the whole ‘possession’ situation complicates things.”

“I’m sorry I can’t help more,” he said. “I feel like I should be able to do _something_.” He looked up at his ceiling fan, head pounding as he followed one of the blades.

“Hey, no. It’s not your fault, Nick.”

“But-”

“No, Nick. Caleb only brought you into this because of me. It’s not your responsibility to stop him.”

“Yeah, but it’s not yours either. Just because some guy with weird goggles is trying to screw up _your_ life it doesn’t mean you’re supposed to deal with it.”

“Yeah… Yeah, maybe not, but it is my life and my friends’ lives that he’s screwing with, and there aren’t exactly many other people who even know it’s happening, let alone can do anything about it.”

“There’s me.”

“But you- Nick, you deserve to have a normal life. You didn’t ask for any of this-”

“Did you?”

“Well, no. But what _I_ got was a new band and a boyfriend and two big brothers, and what _you_ got was possessed by an evil ghost.”

“You got the evil ghost too,” he reasoned. “It’s not like I’m the only one who’s being affected by him. I want to help because we’re friends, Julie. You matter to me, and so do the people who matter to you. I don’t want you or your bandmates or your family to get hurt, just like you’re trying to protect me from Caleb.”

"I know, Nick. I just-"

"Julie." Nick's gaze had just landed once again on Texas’s boot, and a thought hit him like a train. He sat up quickly, his head spinning a little as he did.

"Uh… Yeah?"

"Julie, Caleb took Texas’s boot."

"Oh. Um, that's kind of weird. I mean, he’s a weird guy, but that’s sort of out of left field. I mean this in the kindest way possible, but I kind of feel like he’d have better things to do. Are you sure?"

Nick nodded quickly, ignoring the fact that Julie couldn’t see it, as his heart sped up. "Julie, that means he was in Spencer’s house."

"Oh. Ni-"

"Julie, he was in Spencer’s _bedroom_." Nick couldn't let himself think about the implications of that. "I gotta go."

"Ni-"

He hung up and immediately called Spencer.

"Hey, man. I was just about to call you."

Nick let out a breath of relief at the sound of his friend's voice but then scrunched up his brow in confusion. "You were? How come?"

"Okay, this is gonna sound weird, but one of Texas’s boots fell off. I've been looking for it for like half an hour, and I can't find it anywhere. And you know how hard those things are to take off."

Nick looked at the boot on his desk and then glanced at Oklahoma, who seemed to be staring at him, judging him for what he was about to do. "Huh, that is weird."

"Yeah, you wouldn't happen to know where it is, would you?"

Nick tore his eyes away from Oklahoma and looked down at his feet. "No, man, sorry. Last I saw Texas was the last time I was at your house, and I'm pretty sure she had both boots."

"Yeah…" Spencer sounded so sad Nick wanted to cry.

"Hey, I'm sure it'll turn up."

"Yeah. Hey, what did you want to talk about?"

"Huh?"

"Dude, you called me, remember?"

"Oh right." Nick tried to think of an excuse quickly. "Um… I just wanted to let you know I'm not gonna be able to make it to the movies this weekend." He winced as he pictured the disappointed look on Spencer’s face, but he had to do it. Caleb had already threatened Spencer once. He had to distance himself to protect him.

"Oh. How come?"

"Something came up."

"What?"

"Um… I have to watch Phoebe. My aunt is coming to town and she wants to take my dads out. No kids allowed I guess." He tried for a laugh, but he knew it wasn't fooling anyone.

"Why can't we take her with us?"

"Sharpay? That’s not really her… scene."

"No, Phoebe."

"Oh. To the movies?"

"Yeah, why can't Phoebe just come to the movies with us?"

"Um… why can't we take Phoebe with us to see _Octoslashers III: Return of the Slash_? I don't think that's a good idea. Maybe we can go next weekend?"

"Yeah." Spencer’s dejected voice sent a pang through Nick's heart. "Yeah, we can go next weekend. I'll, uh, see you at school tomorrow, Nick."

"Yeah, see ya." The line went dead, and Nick collapsed on his bed. He rolled over onto his stomach, buried his head in his pillows, and broke down crying. 

\---

Nick was acting… weird. That was really the only word to describe it. All day at school, Spencer felt like Nick was avoiding him. Which had never happened before. Weird. On top of the phone call last night, where he hadn’t even seemed surprised about Texas’s boot, let alone mad like Spencer had been afraid of. _And_ him canceling their movie plans that both of them had been looking forward to since _Octoslashers II_. So… Weird.

Spencer walked through the halls of the school on autopilot, feeling nothing but this weird, empty sadness. Neither he nor Nick participated much in the conversation at lunch with the other guys on the lacrosse team, and he was sure they all noticed. Even _they_ weren’t that dumb, and Rasheed broke his ankle trying to do a kickflip off his own roof with the rest of the boys watching. Even Connor, who as their captain was supposed to hold onto their collective brain cell, had been filming it.

Still, it’s not like he could answer their unspoken questions when he couldn’t even explain it to himself.

At least they didn’t have practice that day, so he could hide out backstage in the costume department and stitch sequins into his tutus in peace. He’d snapped his thread in half more times than he’d care to admit, and his thumb was coming near bleeding.

“Jeez, what’d that tutu do to you?”

_Okay… mostly in peace._ Spencer looked up at Velma Williams, resident orange Dirty Candi member and fellow design student, who’d come to work on costumes for the upcoming showcase. Her eyebrow was raised in a way that told him she wasn’t going to be taking any bullshit excuse. He sighed, “Nothing. It’s just… Nick has been acting… weird.”

Velma nodded. “Yeah, I think Carrie mentioned something about that at rehearsal yesterday. What’s up with him?”

“I don’t _know_ ,” he almost yelled, startling her slightly. “That's the weird part. I’ve never not known what’s going on with him before. I don’t like it,” he grumbled.

She nodded. “Yeah, I wouldn’t either. Have you tried talking to him?”

He shrugged. “A bit. I asked him the other day and again today if he was doing ok, and he said he was, but I could tell was lying. It was…”

“Weird?”

“Yeah… We don’t lie to each other. Normally, I wouldn’t even have to ask what’s up with him ‘cause he would just tell me. I just don’t know what to do,” he sighed, leaning back and setting down his needle.

She leaned forward and put her hand on his knee. “I’m sure everything will work out. You’re Spencer and Nick. I’m pretty sure you’re physically incapable of staying apart for more than three days. Everyone knows that you two are going to live happily ever after.” He scoffed. “I’m serious, Spence. Just try talking to him again; third time’s the charm, you know? And if he still doesn’t respond, just make sure he knows that you’re there when he’s ready, but that you aren’t going to take any of his bullshit. And then give it some time. He’ll come around.”

“How can you be so sure?”

She leaned back into her chair. “I watched you two make up after he broke your arm when we were kids, Spencer. He knocked you off the jungle gym, and you forgave him before he could even finish apologizing. Trust me, you’ll be fine.”

“We were kids. That’s different.”

“Yeah, he didn’t break any of your bones this time,” she reasoned. “I can’t imagine this won’t work out.” She glanced at the tutu that was halfway on his lap and halfway draped across the table next to him. “Isn’t _Paquita_ in like a month?”

“...Yeah. I haven’t even gotten to the Grand Pas costumes yet.”

Velma inhaled sharply, shaking her head. “You should probably go back to your sequins, then.”

“Probably.” She raised her eyebrows at him, and he rolled his eyes, sighing and turning back around in his chair. “Yeah, alright. I get your point. It could be worse, though- at least I don’t have to dye like a thousand pairs of pointe shoes red again.”

She shuddered at the memory of late nights, stained hands, and a very exhausted Spencer before turning back to her own work, some plasticky pink vinyl Spencer hated but she managed to make work. He had to admit he was always impressed with Dirty Candi’s costumes even if they were _so_ not his thing. Especially when he saw the vague and impossible concept art Carrie gave her to work with.

It always shocked him when Velma was able to turn a general concept (Carrie insisted the ‘vibe’ was enough, but he vehemently disagreed) into actual costumes without even a reference photo. At least _he_ always had real ballets to go off of. Apparently she “enjoyed” the “challenge” and thought it was “fun” to be “creative.” He shook his head at the thought and continued with his tutu, glad to have an end result in mind and a specifically correct way of getting there. At least something in his life made sense right now.

\---

“Hey, bro, are you good? You seem a little out of it today,” Leo asked his cousin as they got changed in the locker room after practice on Thursday. 

Spencer shrugged. “Yeah, man. It’s just… I don’t know. This is gonna sound dumb…”

“What’s up?” Connor, the team captain, asked, looking over from his locker.

Spencer sighed, glancing around the room. Nick looked away quickly. “You know that stuffed penguin I’ve had like forever?”

Leo nodded. “Yeah, Texas.”

Spencer nodded. “One of her boots fell off, and I’ve looked everywhere for it, but it’s been like two days, and I can’t find it anywhere. I don’t know why I’m so stressed out about it…” He shook his head, trying to downplay his own feelings.

Leo glanced between Spencer and Nick, who was _definitely_ winning the staring contest he was having with his locker. “Didn’t Nick get you that penguin?” he asked slowly. Spencer nodded, him and Nick both blushing. “How about we come over and help you look for it?”

The rest of the boys looked over with various noises and expressions of agreement.

“Why would you do that?” Spencer asked.

“Well, if it’s throwing off your game that much…” Leo joked.

“And if it’s important to you, it’s important to us,” Percy added.

Spencer smiled. “Thanks, guys.”

They managed to fit the guys in two cars (maybe not entirely legally or safely, especially with Rasheed’s busted ankle dangling out the window, but who’s counting) and made their way to Spencer’s house. Laura and Francesca barely even questioned it when eleven teenage boys stampeded into their house, stopping to say hi to them and the pets (including Bobo the Roomba, of course) as they got snacks and made a game plan in the kitchen. They decided to split up into groups (and if Nick made sure he was in a separate group from Spencer, well… everybody noticed, but they didn’t say anything, just shared confused looks across the room that Nick pointedly ignored).

Nick noticed the other guys whispering to each other as he pretended to look for the boot. He couldn’t even bring himself to worry too much about what they were saying. He just tried not to think about how weird and messy his life had gotten. All because he’d deigned to bring a girl flowers.

They didn’t find the boot. Obviously. It currently sat in Nick’s desk drawer, but no one else knew that. When Laura and Franny invited the boys to stay for dinner, Nick was the only one who declined. He felt like if he stayed in this house a moment longer, he might just start crying.

So he walked home.

\---

The next day, while Spencer was busy working on costumes for _Paquita_ again, Nick showed up at his house. He felt kind of like a criminal sneaking around like this, with Texas’s boot in his pocket. But it wasn’t like he was breaking and entering; he had a key. And it’s not like he was stealing; he was returning something he stole. Well, something a ghost stole while in control of his body (he still wasn’t entirely sure how that all worked). But whatever.

He opened the back door and glanced around to make sure there was no one there. He snuck up the stairs, making sure to avoid the one that always creaked. And he opened Spencer’s door as quietly as he could.

Franny left her room to head downstairs and make a snack, but when she passed by Spencer’s bedroom, she noticed that the door was open. Weird. She could have sworn it had been closed before, and Spencer wasn’t supposed to be home for a while. Grabbing the first thing she saw, which happened to be a broken lamp they’d never gotten around to replacing, she tiptoed over to the door and pushed it open further.

Nick jumped, rushing to hide something behind his back, but it fell onto the floor. Franny looked down at the object. Texas’s boot. She looked back at Nick, setting the lamp down and crossing her arms, suddenly feeling very protective. “Nick? What are you doing here?”

“Um…” He glanced around nervously, trying to come up with an excuse. “I… Drugs?”

Unfortunately for him, she didn’t believe that for a second. “Why do you have Texas’s boot? Spencer’s been looking for that for days.”

“I know. I-”

“You know he was so worried that you would be mad that he lost it. But you had it the whole time? Why? Why would you take it? Why would you _lie_ to him?”

“I can explain.”

She raised her eyebrows, waiting for him to go on, but he didn’t. “Well, I sure would like you to.”

“Please don’t tell him I was here.”

“You better have a damn good reason if you’re expecting me to lie to my son.”

“Um. I- I can’t…” And that’s when Franny realized that he looked like he was on the verge of tears. She blinked a couple of times and almost stepped back in surprise. She was not prepared for this. In the decade she’d known him, she had only ever seen Nick cry a few times. Even then, it was almost always over _The Lion King_ or a scraped knee.

Fortunately, she heard footsteps coming up the stairs and turned to see her wife walking up to them. “Fran? What’s up?”

She glanced at Nick and then looked back at Laura. “We have a, uh, situation.”

Laura gave her a confused look and then stepped up next to Franny to look into the room, where Nick was now frozen in fear. “Nick? Honey, are you alright?”

Nick opened his mouth to say something and then closed it again, shaking his head.

Laura looked at her wife with one eyebrow raised, silently asking her what was going on. Fran shrugged. “I caught him in here trying to sneak Texas’s boot back into Spencer’s room.”

Laura looked back at Nick. “Nick, why did you have Texas’s boot? He’s been looking for that for days.”

“I know,” Nick said weakly. He took a shaky breath. “It’s. It’s a long story. I’m so sorry. _Please_ don’t tell him.” His eyes started to fill with tears, and the two women shared a look, both of their hearts breaking for the boy in front of them.

Laura moved into the room and led Nick onto the bed, sitting next to him and holding him. “Nick, honey, what’s been going on with you lately?”

Nick just shook his head, tears threatening to spill from his eyes. “I can’t. I can’t tell you. Just. Please don’t tell Spencer I was here.” Laura and Franny shared another look, both of them at a complete loss for what to do. “Please,” he pleaded again.

“Nick…” Franny said slowly. “Are you in trouble? Is everything okay at home?”

“No- I mean, yes. I mean, I’m not in trouble and everything’s fine at home,” he said, shaking his head. “I just- I need you to not tell Spencer about this.”

Laura nodded. “Okay. We won’t tell him you were here or that you had the boot.” Nick visibly relaxed. “If,” She continued. Nick tensed again. “You promise us that you’ll talk to someone about whatever’s going on with you. It doesn’t have to be us. It doesn’t even have to be Spencer, but he does deserve the truth, and he deserves to hear it from you. Just, promise us you won’t keep this bottled up.”

Nick nodded. “I won’t. I’m okay. I have Julie.”

Laura turned to Fran and mouthed, ‘Julie?’ Fran just shrugged back. Yeah, that part they _definitely_ wouldn’t tell Spencer - it would break his heart. They knew their son better than anyone, and it wasn’t hard to see how badly he’d fallen for Nick. For a long time, it had seemed like Nick felt the same way. He looked at Spencer like he was the only person on Earth. But apparently, he had a girlfriend now? They both silently prayed Spencer already knew, not particularly wanting to be the ones to break the news to him.

“Can I go now?” Nick asked.

Laura squeezed his shoulder. “Yeah, sweetie, you can go. Do you want a ride?”

Nick shook his head. “No, I’m okay.”

“Okay.”

He got up, and they watched him leave before turning back to each other again, matching looks of concern on their faces. Fran walked over and picked up the boot before sitting next to her wife on the bed. Laura put her arm around her as she grabbed Texas and shoved the boot back on her bare foot. They’d think of an excuse to cover for Nick for now, but if he kept this going for much longer, they’d have to have words with him again about what he was doing to their son.

\---

Nick left the Montgomery-Wright house, still feeling like complete and utter shit. He didn’t want to go home, and despite his promise to Spencer’s moms, he didn’t really want to talk to Julie right now either. So he just walked, not really paying attention to where he was going.

Naturally, because the universe _hated_ him, he ended up in front of the same flower shop where he and Spencer had gotten Julie’s carnations. The woman standing outside selling flowers wasn’t the one they’d met previously, so she (thankfully) didn’t recognize him.

“Gerberas?” The woman offered. “We’ve got so many, they’re half off right now.”

And for some reason, that did it. The tears that he’d just barely managed to hold back in Spencer’s room started flowing freely down his cheeks, and his body started shaking with sobs.

The woman looked startled. “Are- are you alright?”

He nodded. “Yeah, yeah it’s just-” He choked on the words. He couldn’t tell her that gerberas reminded him of his best friend he was pretty sure he’d hurt beyond repair, the boy he was probably in love with. He couldn’t tell her what happened the day he’d last been at this flower shop when he’d been fucking possessed by a demon. “I’m sorry.”

“I- er, would you prefer roses?” She asked hesitantly.

That just made him sob harder. _Spencer fucking hates roses._ He thought the thorns were mean.

“Who’s Spencer?” she asked.

_Shit._ Had he said that out loud?

“Is he your ex?”

Nick shook his head miserably. He _wasn’t._ But why did that almost feel accurate?

“Oh. Well, whatever it is, I’m sorry.”

He shook his head. “No, I’m sorry. Yeah, I’ll take some flowers.”

“Are you sure?” He nodded and started pulling cash out of his wallet. “What do you want?”

_What do you want? What do you want? What do you-_ What _did_ he want? _Fuck_ , he wanted Spencer. “Gerberas.”

\---

Nick continued walking, now carrying an oversized bouquet of gerberas and still not paying attention to where he was going. At some point, Connor must have pulled up next to him, because he was leaning out his car window toward Nick. “Why do you have… I don’t even want to know. Get in.”

“Oh, that’s alright-” Nick started, frantically wiping tears from his cheeks.

“Get in the car.” The look on Connor’s face was enough for him to nod and climb into the passenger seat without further protest. “What are the flowers for?” Connor asked, almost as if he didn’t want to know the answer.

“They were on sale?” Nick offered weakly. “I think I freaked the lady out, so I felt like I had to buy something.”

“And by ‘something’, you mean the whole flower shop?”

Nick shrugged. “I just handed her some money, and this is what she gave me.” He couldn’t even remember how much he’d paid.

“Dude, how much money are you out?” Connor asked, looking over when they hit a red light to count the gerberas.

Nick pulled out his wallet and looked inside. “Uh… all of it?”

“Nick!”

“Listen, she seemed _really_ freaked out, okay? I started crying when she mentioned gerberas and then cried even harder when she offered roses instead. It was the least I could do.”

“Bro, I don’t even know what the fuck a gerbera is. Why would they make you cry?”

Nick looked out the window and mumbled, “They’re Spencer’s favorite.”

“I’m sorry, what? I couldn’t hear you.”

“They’re Spencer’s favorite,” Nick repeated just a few notches louder, his face burning up.

“Sorry, what was that?” he asked again.

“They’re Spencer’s favorite, okay?” he yelled. “They’re Spencer’s favorite, and roses are his least favorite, and I miss Spencer, and I lied to him about the boot, and everything is all wrong and _gerberas are his favorite_ , okay?”

Connor blinked at him for a moment. “Okay, yeah. That’s what I thought you said,” he replied. “What was that about the boot, though?”

“I…” How could he possibly explain this? “I knew where Texas’s boot was the whole time…”

“You _what_?” he asked, hitting the breaks a little too hard at the next light. “What the fuck do you mean you ‘knew where it was’? We spent three fucking hours looking for that thing, Nick!”

“It- It’s complicated, okay?” _I was possessed by a fucking demon!_ his brain supplied. But he couldn’t say that without sounding crazy. Then again, he probably already did. “I didn’t want him to think I took it, and I didn’t expect you guys to offer to help look for it, and I thought I could just sneak back into his house and put it back without anyone noticing, but his moms caught me, and they said they wouldn’t tell Spencer, but what if they do anyway and Spencer hates me forever?”

“Bro, Spencer could never _hate_ you. But you need to tell him about the boot. And whatever the fuck else is going on with you.”

Nick shook his head. “I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t want him to get hurt.”

“I think it’s a little late for that. You already hurt him.”

“Not that kind of hurt.” Connor scrunched up his nose, glancing at him out of the corner of his eye. Nick had no idea what Caleb was capable of, but if he could _kill ghosts_ , there was no telling what he could do to a living person.

“Dude, did you like… kill his dog or something?”

“What? No!” He would never hurt Herbert Fitzhoover.

“Good, then stop acting like it. Spencer loves you, man. He would never hate you. I mean, if you hurt Herbert… But you didn’t, so I can’t imagine anything you could say to him would make him hate you.”

Nick shook his head. “You don’t understand.”

“Then make me understand. Tell me what’s going on.”

“I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“You’ll think I’m crazy.”

“Bro, we are, like, _well_ past that.”

Nick took a deep breath, reasoning that it wasn’t like things could get much worse. “Would you believe me if I told you I was possessed by a demon because he thinks Julie and I are dating and he wants to turn her band on each other because they’re ghosts and he’s worried that they’re more powerful than him?”

“Would I… what?”

Nick was trying to figure out how to respond when he felt Caleb take over again. “Fuck,” he muttered just in time for Connor to hear it before he lost control of his body.

“Bro what?”

Caleb cleared his throat. “You can just ignore everything I just said.”

“I can…” he glanced over at a stop sign, only to find Nick staring at him like he was trying to win a staring contest that never started. “...That’s new.”

“What’s new?” Caleb asked, tilting his head to the side.

“Um… Are you okay, Nick?”

“Of course I am.” Connor glanced around at the intersection. He’d been about to turn left to go toward Nick’s house, but now he decided to turn right, toward Julie’s. Nick had mentioned her right before…. Whatever the fuck this was, so maybe she would know something.

Caleb glanced out the window and smiled as if he knew what Connor was doing. “Uh… So, what are we doing for Mark’s birthday this weekend?”

“I don’t know,” Caleb said. “I thought you’d-” he was cut off by Connor swerving slightly as he screamed, which in turn caused _Caleb_ to scream. 

“Oh my God, _who are you_?!”

“I’m- What are you talking about?”

“WE DON’T KNOW A MARK! WHAT DID YOU DO WITH MY FRIEND?”

“Stop yelling!”

“Stop… Possessing Nick!” he responded, turning down Julie’s street and subconsciously pushing down just a little harder on the gas pedal.

“Stop meddling in things you don’t understand.”

“THIS IS MY CAR! You are in _my car_!”

Suddenly Caleb disappeared from the passenger seat and reappeared on the sidewalk outside of the car, leaving what was easily at least fifty dollars worth of gerberas behind. Connor nearly slammed on his brakes, but managed to pull over next to him. He got out of the car, grabbing the flowers on impulse, and walked up to him. “What the fuck, man?”

“I guess we’re not in your car anymore.” He turned and started walking, fortunately (or maybe not?) in the direction of Julie’s house.

Connor followed. “You can’t just- Dude, who the fuck are you?”

“That is none of your concern.”

“Like hell it’s none of my concern. You’re in my friend’s body.”

“He’ll have it back when I’m done with it.”

“What the fuck does that mean? That is some felony-level shit, right there.”

“Possession isn’t a crime,” Caleb replied.

“Well… wait a minute. It _is_ though.”

“Not- not _that_ kind of possession!” Caleb exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air. He turned onto Julie’s driveway, and Connor almost tripped as he tried to follow him.

“Well, this kind of possession should be a crime, too. You can’t just… use someone’s body like that without their consent.”

“Yes well, good luck finding a cop who will believe you.”

“Well-” Okay, maybe he had a point. He hadn’t really believed Nick until he’d seen it with his own eyes. And even then, he hadn’t really _seen it_ . And there was still a chance this whole thing was some kind of nightmare or _really_ well-executed prank. “Look, I don’t know what your problem is, but if you don’t get out of my friend-”

Caleb stopped suddenly and turned to look at him. “You’ll do what exactly?”

Connor stopped in his tracks, and Caleb simply smirked before turning to continue around Julie’s house toward the garage. Connor rushed to follow. He could hear music coming from the garage, so he knew she was there. He still wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

When Caleb pushed the door open, the music stopped abruptly, and Connor saw the other three members of the band disappear. “Oh my God, they’re not holograms, are they?” he asked, suddenly putting the pieces together in his head.

Julie looked back and forth between them for a moment. “Caleb, I swear...” She sounded more tired than worried. “What the fuck do you want now?”

“Caleb? So, you know? About… this?” Connor asked.

Julie nodded. “Yeah, I don’t know how much you know, and I’m sorry you somehow got roped into this, but I can handle it if you want to leave. Just… please don’t tell anyone about the guys.”

Connor shook his head. “Uh no. Nick’s in danger, and a captain goes down with his… team.”

Julie looked like she was going to say something but then thought better of it, turning back to Caleb. “Seriously, though, Caleb. What do you _want_?”

“You know what I want,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest.

“No,” she said, mimicking his position.

“Well, then. I guess I’ll go ahead and stay in this body for a while,” He inspected his nails nonchalantly. “Could use some work, but I’m starting to have fun with it.”

“Don’t- Listen, man. Your stamps are gone. I got rid of them. Turns out your one weakness is-” she cut herself off, putting pieces together in her head, and turned to Connor. “Call Spencer.”

“Do what?” he asked.

“Call Spencer. Get him over here now.”

“Like, _now_ now? Even with Nick all…” he looked him up and down. “You know.”

Julie resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “Yes, _now_ now. Please?” 

Connor quickly left the garage, pulling out his phone as he did so. He dialed Spencer’s number and waited anxiously for him to pick up.

“Hey man, what’s up?”

“Look, I don’t have time to explain, but you know how Nick’s been acting all weird lately?”

“Yeah…”

“You need to get down to Julie’s house right now.”

“What? Why?”

“I don’t know. Things are kind of crazy, but Julie seems to think you can help somehow.”

He could hear movement on the other end of the line. “Is he okay?”

“Um… Maybe?”

“Dude!”

“I don’t know, man. He’s _alive_. Just get here. Quickly.”

“Okay. I’ll be there as soon as I can.” Spencer hung up, and Connor started pacing, unsure if he should go back into the garage or wait out here for Spencer. He looked down at the flowers he’d been carrying with a sigh.

After a few moments, he settled on sitting down on the pavement in the driveway, counting petals on the gerberas to pass the time. He’d gotten into the hundreds by the time Spencer appeared, a little out of breath. “Dude, did you run here?”

“You- I thought it was urgent! You said Nick was in trouble- what’s with the flowers? Are those…”

“Gerberas?” Connor finished. “Yeah, that’s what Nick said. I’m, like, pretty sure they’re for you.”

“Pretty sure?”

“Well, I couldn’t ask because he- oh, right. We should go inside.” He gestured toward the garage doors behind him. 

“Are you going to tell me what’s going on, or…?”

“I wish I could, man.” He pulled open the door to find Julie lunging for Nick. She seemed to be restrained by someone, as she stopped short before she could get to him. 

“Um,” Spencer said. “I’m here?”

“Oh my God, finally,” Julie said, sighing as whatever was holding her back let her go, and she stepped toward Spencer. “I know this sounds crazy, but Nick’s been possessed.”

“Am you being serious right now or is this a prank?”

“I wish it was a prank. Just. Get over here.” She reached for him, pulling him by the arm to where Nick was standing.

“This is what you think my weakness is?” Nick asked in a voice that was just a little off, looking Spencer up and down with an expression that did not belong on his face. “Some kid?”

“Nick?” Spencer asked quietly, the hairs on his arms standing up.

He smirked, wearing another expression that did not belong on Nick’s face. “Not quite.”

“Julie?” he asked, turning toward her. “What am I supposed to do exactly?”

“It’s not like there’s an instruction manual here. Just like- I don’t know. Tell Nick you love him or something.”

“Um, okay?” he turned to face Nick (or whoever was… possessing him?) “I love you, man.”

“Not- not like that,” Julie said with a sigh. “Tell him the truth.”

“The truth?” he asked. “Like…”

“You _know_ what I mean, Spencer. Tell him. We’ll give you some space.” She nodded toward the doors, pulling Connor out of the garage, looking pointedly at the empty space behind her as she did.

Connor tossed him the flowers as he left. “Here, these might help.”

Nick crossed his arms and scoffed. “Seriously? This is your big plan?”

“I don’t actually have a plan,” Spencer said, absentmindedly rubbing a thumb over one of the petals of the gerberas. “I don’t know who you are or what’s happening here. I’m assuming my, um, Nick is in there somewhere, though. Um, can I ask, though, who _are_ you? And why are you messing with my best friend?”

He was met with a scoff and an eye roll. “Look, I don’t have time for this. I have a club to run and some souls to contain.” He started to walk away, but Spencer grabbed his arm to stop him.

“No. You don’t get to just walk away with Nick’s body. Look, I don’t know if you can hear me in there, Nick, and I don’t know how this works, but you gotta resist this guy somehow.”

Caleb rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I’ll go ahead and tell you now that that’s not gonna work.”

“Shut up! I’m not talking to you, man.” He looked down at the gerberas and then back up at Nick. “Nick, listen to me. This isn’t how I wanted to do this, but you remembered my favorite kind of flower, and that has to _mean_ something, Tor. Julie was right. _I love you_ . And not in a ‘bro’ way. I- I don’t know, man. You’re, like, _it_ for me. You’re my best friend, and I love you, and it’s only been like a week since… whatever _this_ is started happening, but I miss you so much, dude.” As he spoke, he searched Nick’s face for any sign that he was in there, that he could hear him. There was maybe a little flicker of recognition, but then it was gone. Spencer glanced down at the flowers in his hand again. “Like, the whole time I was running around looking for Texas’s boot, I just kept thinking about the first time Chicken got ahold of her and flew up onto the roof, and we had to climb up there to get her back, and it was _worth it_ because it was you and because we ended up getting stuck up there when the ladder fell down. And we had to stay up there until my mom came out to fix it, but we didn’t even come down when she did because the sky was so clear and dark, and we were making up our own names for the constellations we couldn’t pronounce, and I would have stayed there all night if it hadn’t gotten so cold that night. Actually, I probably would have stayed anyway because I was with you. You, Nick. My Copernicus. My Tori- Torin- my Tor. My… My Nick.” God, he was nearly in tears. He forced himself to look back up into Nick’s eyes, hoping he was still in there, that he had heard any of that.

An assortment of emotions seemed to cross Nick’s face. The flicker of recognition became something more real. The scowl he’d been wearing seemed to fade away into something more natural, but uncertain.

Spencer smiled apprehensively. “Did you hear all that?”

“If I say ‘no,’ will you say it all again?”

Spencer laughed in disbelief and brought his free hand up to the back of Nick’s neck, leaning their foreheads together. “Yeah. Yeah, I’ll say it as many times as you need me to to get it through your thick skull that I’m in love with you, Nick.”

Nick smiled back. “Maybe just one more time?”

“I love you, dumbass.”

“I love you too, Cassini.”

Suddenly, Nick looked down, a confused expression on his face. Spencer followed his gaze down to his wrist, where a glowing purple symbol had appeared.

“Oh, I do not like that,” Spencer said. “Does it hurt?”

“Neither do I. Kinda… Stings?”

Just then it seemed to float up and hang in the air for a moment before fading away. “What… just happened?”

“I think- I think he’s gone?”

“The- The guy possessing you?”

Nick nodded. “Yeah, Caleb.”

“Oh. So that’s Caleb?”

“Yeah. Some creepy overdramatic ghost who has it out for Julie’s band.”

“Oh. How come?”

“I didn’t really understand that part, to be honest. They’re ghosts, though. So… I guess he just. Doesn’t, uh, like ghosts?”

“Oh. But _he’s_ a ghost?” Nick just shrugged. “Come here, idiot.” Spencer pulled him closer to kiss him. 

“Thank you,” Nick said once they pulled apart. 

Spencer laughed. “Dork.”

“You love me.”

“Yeah. Yeah, I do.”

They heard a knock on the garage door and turned toward it. Julie’s voice came through, “Are you guys good in there?”

“All good!” Nick called. “Back in possession of my own body!”

“For good?”

“I think so! There was a little stamp-y thing and now there’s not.”

The head of Julie’s bassist, Reggie, came through the door, and Nick jumped back. “Hey, that’s what happened to us!”

“What the- you’re _in the door_?”

“What?” Spencer asked, confused.

Nick pointed at him. “Ghost. Reggie, right?”

Reggie nodded and stepped the rest of the way through the door.

“From Julie’s band?” Spencer asked.

The other two ghosts came through the door, soon followed by Julie opening the door and her and Connor entering the garage like normal people. “Wait? You can see us?” Alex asked.

Nick nodded. “Yeah, you’re Julie’s band.” He looked at Luke. “And you’re Julie’s ghost boyfriend.” Julie blushed, and Luke was wearing that same shit-eating grin that Nick had seen a flash of in the cafeteria the other day.

“Her what now?” Connor asked. 

He and Spencer shared a confused look, and then Spencer turned to ask Nick, “Honey, what is happening?”

Nick shrugged. “I don’t know. You don’t see them?” Spencer shook his head.

“Okay, but why can _you_ see us?” Alex asked.

Nick shrugged again. “I don’t know. Am I not supposed to?” He asked, rushing to put his hands over his eyes.

Julie walked over to him and gently brought his hands down. “Oh, honey no. You’re _allowed_ to see them. We’re just surprised that you can. Usually only I can see them unless we’re playing music.”

“Oh,” Nick said with a frown. “Is it because of Caleb?”

Julie shared a look with the ghosts and then looked back at him. “Probably. I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s cool. It’s just, he is gone, right?”

“I think so. At least, he’s not here anymore. I’m not sure where exactly he is. But we’ll figure it out and make sure he can’t hurt you anymore.”

Nick nodded. “How are we going to do that?”

Julie shook her head, smiling lightly. “No, _we_ ,” she emphasized, gesturing to herself and her band. “Are going to figure that out. _You_ don’t have to do anything except go home and rest. You’ve been through a lot today.”

“But I-”

“Nick,” Spencer said, taking his hand. “I think maybe you should listen to her on this one. She’s the ghost expert here.”

Nick nodded. “Yeah, okay.”

Julie smiled and turned to Connor. “You think you can give these two a ride home?”

Connor nodded. “Yeah, come on.”

“You will let us know what’s going on, right?” Nick asked Julie. “And if you need any help?”

She nodded. “Yeah, I’ll tell you everything tomorrow.” She wrapped him in a tight hug. “I love you, Nick.”

“Love you too, Jules.”

She pulled back and looked at Spencer. “Take care of him for me.”

Spencer nodded. “Always.”

The two of them followed Connor out to his car and sat in the backseat so they wouldn’t have to let go of each other’s hands.

After a few moments of quiet, Connor glanced at them through the mirror. “So… are you two, like, gay now?”

“I was always gay,” Spencer answered.

“Yeah, I know _that_. But like, Nick?”

Nick blinked a couple of times. Somehow it hadn’t occurred to him that liking Spencer might make him… gay? _Huh_. “Um… maybe? Or like bi? I don’t know. Does it matter?”

Connor shook his head with a shrug. “I guess not. As long as you’re back to normal now. Or normal for you anyway. And if this means you two are done pining over each other, I think the whole team will be happy.”

“We didn’t-”

“Honey,” Spencer interrupted, “We definitely did.”

“Since sixth grade,” Connor confirmed. “And probably before then, even.”

“How is that possible?” Nick asked. “I didn’t know until, like, last week.”

Spencer snorted and shook his head affectionately, then turned to Connor. “But jokes on you though, us as a couple is going to be so much more insufferable than us pining.”

Nick found himself grinning at the word ‘couple.’ “Yeah!” He added.

Connor rolled his eyes. “Can’t wait…” He was smiling though. “As long as you’re happy, I guess,” he added more quietly. “So, um, whose house am I taking you to?

They shared a look, a silent conversation passing between them. Spencer answered, “Mine. If that’s ok.”

Connor nodded. “No problem, man.”

By the time they made it back to Spencer’s house, the sun was starting to set. They said goodnight to Connor and made their way inside, immediately heading for the stairs. But they were intercepted by Spencer’s moms, who crossed their arms and glanced down at their intertwined hands and the flowers Spencer was still holding with raised eyebrows.

“Ok, so what’d we miss?” Franny asked.

“Um…” They shared a look. “Long story?” Nick tried.

“We’ll tell you tomorrow,” Spencer promised. “But we’re kind of exhausted.”

Laura nodded. “Have you eaten?” When she asked that, it hit Nick that he was starving. He shook his head. “How about you tell us over supper then?” It was technically a question, but she said it in a way that implied they couldn’t really say no. And to be honest, Nick wasn’t sure he wanted to anyway. “I’ve got a lasagna that should be coming out of the oven in a couple of minutes.” The boys both nodded, and she reached out toward the flowers. “Here, let me find a vase for these.”

Spencer nodded again as he handed them off. “Thanks. We’re gonna go upstairs for a bit.”

“Ok, we’ll let you know when dinner’s ready.”

As they stepped through the door of Spencer’s bedroom, Spencer froze. Nick followed his gaze to Texas, who was now wearing both of her boots. “Oh.”

“What- where did- when did-”

Nick pulled him over to the bed and sat them both down, taking a deep breath. “I had Texas’s boot the whole time.”

“What?”

Nick nodded. “Caleb took it while he was possessing me. I think he was threatening you. That’s why I was trying to distance myself from you.”

“Oh,” Spencer said softly. Nick looked down, feeling guilty. He shook his head, turning to hold Nick’s face in his hands. “Babe, you’re an idiot.”

“I know. I should’ve-”

Spencer shook his head. “No.” He moved his hand up to the back of Nick’s head to pull him closer. “I mean, you’re an idiot for thinking this was at all your fault. I don’t know much about this whole ghost thing, but even I can tell that this Caleb guy was manipulating you, even when he wasn’t directly possessing you. Maybe you could have handled it better, but that doesn’t make this your fault.”

Nick nodded. “Okay,” he said.

“I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

Spencer leaned forward to kiss Nick again, still a little bit surprised when he wasn’t met with a smack to the side of the head. Instead, he was met with Nick’s lips smiling against his own, forcing the kiss to end early.

"Stop smiling."

"Stop being so cute then."

Spencer laughed. "Never. Hey, now that we’ve gotten all of this figured out…"

“Hm?”

“Do you still want to go see _Octoslashers III_?” he asked, pouting slightly. “Unless you really did need to watch your sister?”

“No, that was just the first thing that came to mind,” Nick explained sheepishly. “Yeah, of course I want to.”

“Good. I’ll hold your hand when you get scared,” he promised.

“Oh my God, shut up.” Nick leaned forward to kiss him again, this time managing to make it last a little longer.

That is, until they were so rudely interrupted by Laura yelling up the stairs that dinner was ready.

They didn’t tell Spencer’s moms everything. They couldn’t, not really. They told them the basics and filled in the gaps to the best of their abilities. Franny and Laura decided not to question them too much, knowing that whatever it was must be important and trusting them to come to them if they needed them. Besides, they seemed happy, and that’s what mattered.

After they ate, the boys made their way upstairs and crawled into bed, wrapping each other in their arms (this time intentionally). Nick had his face buried in Spencer’s chest, and he couldn’t help but smile a little bit as he felt a kiss get pressed to the top of his head.

\---

Spencer woke up, Nick’s head resting on his chest, drooling an amount that only he could get away with and have Spencer still think it was cute, their limbs tangled together. Spencer smiled down at him, bringing his hand up to run it through Nick’s hair. A part of him couldn’t believe he was finally allowed to do this. Another part of him said it was about damn time.

Nick started to stir, slowly turning his head to look at Spencer, smiling when he met his eyes. “Hi.”

“Good morning.”

Nick laid his head back down. “Do we have to get up? ‘M comfy.”

“You can sleep as long as you want, love,” Spencer told him, leaning down to kiss him on the top of his head. He could feel Nick smiling against his shirt.

“I love you, Cass.”

“That’s pretty gay.”

“You’re a pretty gay.”

Spencer laughed. “I love you too, Tor.”

\---

They woke up again, hours later, to the sound of Spencer’s phone ringing. Trying not to move too much, Spencer reached over to pick it up, answering when he saw it was Julie. “What’s up?”

“Oh good, you answered. I tried calling Nick like 3 times.”

“You know he always keeps his phone on silent. And we’ve been asleep.”

“Spencer, it’s almost noon.”

“It is?”

“I’ll give you a pass this time ‘cause I know you guys had a long day yesterday, but tell Nick that next time he’s recovering from a demon possession, he should at least take his phone off silent, so his friends don’t have to worry so much.”

“I’ll be sure to relay the message.”

“I heard her,” Nick mumbled against Spencer’s chest. He looked up. “What’s wrong?”

Spencer put the phone on speaker and repeated the question.

“Nothing’s wrong,” Julie assured them. “I thought you guys wanted me to update you on the whole Caleb situation.”

Nick sat up, rubbing the sleep out of his eye. “We do. What’s up?”

“Everything is fine, I promise. It’s just kind of a long story, and it might be easier if the guys help me tell it. Do you think you could come over?”

“Yeah. We’ll be there in…” Nick trailed off, looking at Spencer.

Spencer shrugged. “Half an hour?” he offered.

“Sounds good,” Julie said. “I’ll see you then. You can just come directly to the studio.”

“Ok, bye Julie.”

“Bye, Julie. Love you.”

“One problem,” Spencer started once he’d hung up the phone. “I can’t see the guys.”

“Oh. I’m sure we’ll figure something out. But first: breakfast.”

Spencer rolled his eyes and shoved Nick off the bed.


	2. two

_\- earlier that day -_

“I’ll make you a deal,” Caleb said, an arrogant smirk on his face as he looked down at Alex. “How about we play a game for our dear William’s soul. I win, his soul, and yours, are mine. You say goodbye to Julie, and join my house band. You win, Willie can have his soul back, and I never bother him or your little band again.”

Alex glanced back at Luke and Reggie on either side of him before turning back to Caleb. “Can I see Willie first? Make sure he’s unharmed?”

“Sure.” Caleb waved his hand, and Willie appeared in a cloud of purple smoke, instantly running toward Alex until he was stopped by another wave of Caleb’s hand. “See. Unharmed. You can have your little reunion _if_ you manage to beat me.”

Willie looked nervously between Alex and Caleb. “Alex, what are you doing? Don’t let him trick you again for me.”

“I got this, Willie. Trust me.” Willie nodded at him, and he turned back to Caleb, his head held high with an innocent smile on his face. “Can I pick the game?”

Caleb contemplated for a second, ultimately deciding that, whatever game Alex challenged him to, he could surely win. “I don’t see why not. What game would you like to play, Alexander?”

“Knife Monopoly,” Reggie interjected seriously, starting to reach for his pockets.

Everyone looked at him incredulously, and Luke asked, “What the hell is knife monopoly? Did you _bring_ _knives_?”

Alex shook his head and ignored them, turning back to Caleb. “No.” He smirked. “Twister.” Caleb and Willie both looked at him like he’d lost his mind, but Luke and Reggie lit up, their own smirks falling into place. “So, do we have a deal?” Alex held out his hand.

Caleb reached out and shook his hand, still not _entirely_ sure what Twister was or how one went about winning at it. “Yes, I believe we do.” A little glowing purple stamp appeared on both of their wrists, not the Hollywood Ghost Club logo, but instead the one for the band. As the stamps faded, the five of them poofed away, reappearing in another, emptier, room of the club, where a large Twister mat now sat in the middle of the floor. His assistant stood there holding the wheel, looking bewildered as he glanced around. “Shall we?”

Alex held up a finger. “Hold on. You think I trust you to have one of your people calling the shots?” He gestured behind him. “Reggie? Luke?” He pointed at the assistant. “You two are going to help.” The two gave him mock solutes before poofing across the room, ending up on either side of the assistant holding the wheel. “ _Now_ , we’re ready.”

“Wait, I’m sorry,” the assistant started. His name was Henry, if Reggie’s memory of the first time they came to the HGC was correct. “What’s happening?”

“They’re playing Twister,” Luke supplied. “If Alex wins, Willie gets his soul back. If he loses, Caleb gets all of our souls.”

“Alex is, like, a legend at Twister,” Reggie explained. “He’s got sisters.”

“Oh,” Henry said, lowering his voice. “Can I play Twister for my soul also, or…?”

“You could ask,” Luke said. “I don’t know if Caleb would take you up on it. Not once he’s already been beaten once.”

“Do you really think-”

“Henry,” Caleb snapped. “Can we start?”

Henry nodded quickly and flicked the spinner on the wheel. “Right foot red.” Putting his right foot on the nearest red dot, Alex snickered under his breath as he watched Caleb try to make a plan for how to best approach the game. 

“You gonna play, or are you forfeiting already?” Alex asked. “Because I’d be more than happy to just take Willie and-” Caleb rolled his eyes and stepped onto a red dot.

“Right hand blue,” Henry called. Alex smiled, moving to put a hand on the third farthest blue space from him. Caleb, still entirely unsure of how one went about strategizing during this game, awkwardly bent down to touch the first blue circle he saw.

“Left foot blue.” Alex slid his foot under Caleb with practiced ease. 

“He’s gonna win,” Luke said with a cocky grin. Henry just shrugged, calling out the next spin. When Alex nearly lost his balance, Caleb threw them a smirk. Meanwhile, Reggie just leaned forward, eyes zeroed in on Alex’s feet.

“Still gonna win?” Willie asked, biting his nail.

“Yeah,” Reggie said resolutely, sitting back. “He’ll be fine.” And sure enough, he was. He quickly reestablished his balance, nodding reassurance to Luke. The game continued without ado for a while, until Henry informed them that the next spin was ‘left hand green’. 

While Caleb was deciding on what to do, Alex realized there was really only one space he could put a hand on without falling. He could have gotten away with a much easier play, but he was getting nervous and figured it was worth it if he would be able to knock Caleb out.

He took a deep breath, taking one last glance at Willie before leaning forward to get his hand on the green dot that just so happened to be the only one Caleb could feasibly reach. He beat him to it by a fraction of a second, only _just_ avoiding falling as Caleb’s foot slipped out from underneath him in his attempt to reach past Alex. Caleb hit his chin when he fell, leaving Alex to casually detangle himself from the mess of limbs they’d gotten themselves into.

“He _always_ wins,” Reggie reiterated. “Even it means making his little sister fall over. He’s ruthless.”

Willie’s jaw was slack as Alex made his way across the room, allowing himself to be pulled into a tight hug. The two of them, along with Luke and Reggie, poofed away, leaving behind Caleb Covington and the Hollywood Ghost Club forever. They appeared in the exact spot Willie ran over Alex, what felt like a lifetime ago.

“I can’t believe you did that,” Willie said in disbelief, continuing to hold onto Alex as they separated from the hug.

“What, you didn’t believe in me?” Alex asked, feigning offense.

“I thought when you asked to pick the game it’d be, I don’t know, something normal? Like cards or something - Guitar Hero at the very worst - but _Twister?!_ ”

“I won, didn’t I? Defended your honor _and_ your soul in one go.”

“Oh my God, shut up,” Willie said, smiling in spite of himself as he put a thumb on Alex’s jaw. His other hand wrapped around the back of his head, pulling him into a kiss. Luke and Reggie cheered loudly as the stamp on Willie’s forearm dissolved, both managing to hold each other back so that they didn’t interrupt the moment.

They pulled apart, resting their foreheads together. After a few seconds, Willie’s eyes widened. “I just realized I don’t have anywhere to go now.”

“Don’t be silly,” Alex said. “You’ll come stay with us in Julie’s garage. There’s plenty of room to sleep and, uh, I guess it’s kind of our only option right now.” Willie grinned at the idea of living (if you could call what they had a life) with Alex.

“Can we interrupt now?” Luke asked.

Willie and Alex both looked over, having kind of forgotten he and Reggie were there. “Um, yeah. What’s up?” Alex asked.

“Don’t you think we should be getting back to the studio soon? Julie’s probably worried about us.”

“Oh yeah, of course.” Alex squeezed Willie’s hand and nodded at his boys. They poofed into the garage, where Julie was pacing back and forth.

“Looks like you might have competition with your model strut there, Alex,” Reggie joked, pointing at Julie.

She stopped her pacing and looked at them, a grin breaking out across her face. She ran to hug them all, even pulling in Willie, whom she’d never actually met before and they weren’t sure she’d be able to see let alone touch. “Oh my God! You guys are ok! I was so worried! What happened? Tell me everything.”

“Ok, breathe,” Luke said, putting his hands on her shoulder.

“Yeah, as the only one of us who actually _needs_ to breathe, that might be a good idea,” Alex added.

“Tell me what happened!” she insisted.

“Alex beat Caleb at his own game,” Luke boasted.

“ _Definitely_ not his own game,” Willie amended.

“Okay, but he still beat Caleb at _a_ game.”

“That’s… Not _in_ correct.”

“What game?” Julie asked, half not wanting to know the answer. Alex blushed, rubbing the back of his neck. Willie raised an eyebrow.

“Go on,” he said, unable to suppress a smile. “Tell her what game you chose to risk your soul over.” Alex huffed, unwilling to meet Julie’s eyes.

“...Twister.”

_\- present -_

“I’m sorry,” Spencer said, dropping his Starbucks muffin. “He beat him at _what?_ ”

**Author's Note:**

> Let us know what you thought!
> 
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> @penguin-writes books & @localspacelesbian


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